| 棘手 | jí shǒu | thorny (problem); intractable | |
| 荆棘 | jīng jí | thistles and thorns; brambles; thorny undergrowth | |
| 沙棘 | shā jí | sea-buckthorn | |
| 披荆斩棘 | pī jīng zhǎn jí | lit. to cut one's way through thistles and thorns (idiom); fig. to overcome all obstacles on the way; to break through hardships; to blaze a new trail | |
| 棘皮动物 | jí pí dòng wù | echinoderm, the phylum containing sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc |
| 1 | But how might dim light have brought about dendritic spine changes? | |
| 2 | The blue swellings on the tip of each spine are filled with venom. | |
| 3 | Sea urchins brandish their spines on the seafloor near the Channel Islands. | |
| 4 | Over the course of four weeks, they spotted coelacanths only six times. | |
| 5 | These small, spiny echinoderms are found in oceans all over the world. |